“Of course you are going to the picnic? You’ll have to start early. It’s a goodish way to ’The Cottonwoods.’ The Sunflower Ranch needs my talents, so I can’t go with the crowd, but I may draggle in about high noon. I’ll drive over in the buggy, and I’ll try to snake some pretty girl off the wagons to ride home with me when it’s all over.”
“Maybe the pretty girls will all be preempted before you get there,” Leigh replied.
“I know one that I hope won’t be,” Thaine said. 277
Leigh was bending over her drawing board and did not look up for a long minute. It was her gift to make comfort about her while she followed her own will unflinchingly. The breeze had blown the golden edges of her hair into fluffy ripples about her forehead and the deep blue of August skies was reflected in her blue eyes shaded by their long brown lashes. Thaine sat watching her every motion, as he always did when he was with her.
“Well?” Leigh looked up with the query. “And what’s to hinder your getting the pretty girl you want if she understands and you are swift enough to cut off the enemy from a flank movement?”
“The girl herself,” Thaine replied.
“Serious! Tragical! Won’t you give me that chrome-yellow tube by your elbow there?” Leigh reached for the paint and their hands met.
“Say, little Sketcher of Things, will you be missing me when I go to school next month? Or will your art and your ranch take all your thoughts?”
“I wish they would, but they won’t,” Leigh said. “They will help to fill up the time, though.”
“Leigh, may I bring you home tomorrow night? I’m going away the next day, and I won’t see you any more for a long time.”